Joshua Pierce

Joshua Pierce is the Howard J. Schaeffer Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and University Faculty Scholar at North Carolina State University (NC State), where he also serves as Executive Director of the Integrative Sciences Initiative. He leads the Pierce Group, focusing on synthetic chemistry approaches to chemical biology and drug discovery, particularly targeting natural products and their biological mechanisms. His research develops novel reactions to synthesize complex molecules, aiming to identify drug leads for combating bacterial resistance and biofilm formation.

Education: B.S. (2003) and Ph.D. (2008) in Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh.

Research Interests: Synthetic organic chemistry, natural product synthesis, antimicrobial agents, drug delivery systems, and the design of heterocyclic scaffolds for therapeutic applications. His group employs innovative synthetic strategies to address challenges in chemical biology, including the development of compounds targeting Staphylococcus aureus biofilms and vancomycin resistance.

Publications: Over 60 peer-reviewed articles, with recent work emphasizing biofilm inhibition, prodrug design, and enantioselective syntheses. His research frequently appears in journals like Journal of the American Chemical Society, ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, and Chemical Communications.

Labs/Teams: Director of the Pierce Group within the Department of Chemistry, collaborating with NC State's Integrative Sciences Initiative to bridge chemistry with biomedical applications.

Grants & Funding: Awards supporting his work on antimicrobial agents and drug delivery systems, though specific grants are not detailed in the provided texts.